Laila was actively involved in charitable, social, community and religious work through numerous non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

As founder and president of Sabati (Wives of the Sarawak Ministers and Assistant Ministers), she was instrumental in setting up the Sarawak Heart Foundation.

The foundation, of which she had been president since its formation, has raised millions of ringgit and sponsored many needy heart patients for surgeries and treatment in the country and abroad over the years.

Laila also helped to set up an orphanage home named after her in Petra Jaya here.

Laila was head of Perkim (the Muslim Welfare Organisation of Malaysia) women’s wing since 1980.

She also headed Regional Islamic Da’wah Council of Sourtheast Asia and the Pacific (Riseap) since 1983.

This article is reproduced from Jakarta Social Blog and The Mighty Pen thus is edited by me for use in accordance to the rules of this website.

28/04/2009: The day after tomorrow will mark a year after Jakarta Social Blog first posted an entry about Manohara Odelia Pinot-Noack, daughter of Daisy Fajarina and George, a man with United States citizenship, and younger sister of Dewi Pinot. Yet in less than a year many outrageous things had happened to her. In April last year, only a few photographs and articles of the then sixteen year old damsel, who bears her stepfather’s surname (her mother later married Reiner Pinot-Noack, a French citizen) appeared on the glossy pages of Prestige and Indonesia Tatler, displaying nothing more than her name, age, and previous boyfriend (Mr. You-Know-Who). Never before there were so many photographs and videos of Manohara Odelia Pinot shown to the public by numerous television channels, in their entertainment and news programs, pictures and stories of her life leaked and publicized by newspapers and tabloid journalists. Her popularity was then limited to those who read prestigious high-society magazines and attend glamorous social events where only the rich and famous could mingle, and one can add, those who’ve seen the ads of Le Salon at Plaza Indonesia.

Manohara with Raditya Argoebie, a close friend of her family

What a difference a year could make? She broke up with her ex-boyfriend, hastily married Muhammad Fakhry, with jubilant approval from her mother, and was bestowed by the Kelantan royalty as Cik Puan Temenggong (CPM). This might sound too good to be true, just like bedtime fairy-tale stories about a charming little girl married to a prince of so-so-land and live happily ever after without any further distraction.

But life is not a fairy-tale, few months after their seemingly perfect wedding; Manohara escaped to Jakarta, Indonesia, with the help of her mother, Daisy Fajarina. About four months later, from 25th February to 9th March, Manohara, Fakhry, Daisy, and Dewi made a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, which ended on a sour note. Daisy said the royalty had abducted her daughter away in Saudi Arabia, by Kelantan Royal Family’s Berjaya Air’s Challenger 300, headed by a Malaysian Captain, Zakaria Salleh, transporting only Fakhry and his wife by force and leaving Daisy and Dewi behind. When Daisy tried to enter Malaysia to track down her daughter, she claimed that she was denied entry into Malaysia at the request of the Kelantan royalty.

Sisters Dewi and Manohara Pinot partied alongside close friends

Now that she’s back to ‘live’ in Kelantan palace, like a little bird in a golden cage, her mother in Jakarta devoured efforts at all lengths to be allowed to meet her own daughter. Daisy uttered profuse and audacious details of Manohara’s conjugal circumstances to a bevy of local journalists. She also stated that her daughter had been sexually abused by the coarse-mannered prince, from being forced to carry out sexual intercourse during her menstruation period to having her chest slit by razor blade.

If such allegations were true, could it be that Fakhry of Kelantan is indeed a sadomasochist? Some things are too painful to hear. But why does recent photographs of Manohara that leaked into some blogs show her unharmed in the least and unreservedly composed while enjoying both formal and informal activities with her husband and in-laws. Had she been feeling miserable, she would look not the least bit content in the latest photographs, for surely she knew that’s the most fitting moment to express the necessity for her to be rescued by Daisy and Dewi. (The Mighty Pen website differs here from the writer(s) of this blog. There is no way one can express fear in the open, especially when conducting royal duties, however unceremonial the duties are. Please also note that most photographs released so far are not indicative of ‘high’ state of happiness compared to her older photos that are also circulating on the cyber sphere. If newer sets of photos appear after the posting of this article, then readers can judge for themselves at the level of cheap play engaged by Fakhry. It does not in any way mean if the new sets of photos do not appear, Fakhry is rightfully correct!).

Daisy, Ryan (Manohara’s close friend and a racer) Manohara, during her short-term escape

But Nikolai Gogol once wrote somewhere, “the real comic muse is the one under whose laughing mask tears roll down,” Who are we to comprehend the truth of such enigmatic vexation. But one can always reverse the saying above, “the real comic muse is the one under whose doleful mask laughsfurtively.” Then who’s righteous and who’s rancorous? (The Mighty Pen has not edited this paragraph for lack of understanding of the writer(s) intent, and left it as it is. The Mighty Pen has also removed the concluding paragraph of this article as it contradicts our original intent. The writer(s) have asked for no interference from all sides for the ending of this unfolding drama. We congratulate the writer(s) for such an expressive piece).

Antarctic ice shelf breaking up; Area the size of New York City becomes icebergs

TROMSOE (Norway) 28/04/2009 – AN AREA of an Antarctic ice shelf almost the size of New York City has broken into icebergs this month after the collapse of an ice bridge widely blamed on global warming, a scientist said on Tuesday. ‘The northern ice front of the Wilkins Ice Shelf has become unstable and the first icebergs have been released,’ Angelika Humbert, glaciologist at the University of Muenster in Germany, said of European Space Agency satellite images of the shelf.

She told Reuters about 700 sq km of ice – bigger than Singapore or Bahrain and almost the size of New York City – has broken off the Wilkins this month and shattered into a mass of icebergs. She said 370 sq kms of ice had cracked up in recent days from the Shelf, the latest of about 10 shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula to retreat in a trend linked by the UN Climate Panel to global warming. The new icebergs added to 330 sq kms of ice that broke up earlier this month with the shattering of an ice bridge apparently pinning the Wilkins in place between Charcot island and the Antarctic Peninsula. Nine other shelves – ice floating on the sea and linked to the coast – have receded or collapsed around the Antarctic peninsula in the past 50 years, often abruptly like the Larsen A in 1995 or the Larsen B in 2002.

The trend is widely blamed on climate change caused by heat-trapping gases from burning fossil fuels, according to David Vaughan, a British Antarctic Survey scientist who landed by plane on the Wilkins ice bridge with two Reuters reporters in January. Ms Humbert said by telephone her estimates were that the Wilkins could lose a total of 800 to 3,000 sq kms of area after the ice bridge shattered.

The Wilkins shelf has already shrunk by about a third from its original 16,000 sq kms when first spotted decades ago, its ice so thick would take at least hundreds of years to form. Temperatures on the Antarctic Peninsula have warmed by up to 3 Celsius this century, Vaughan said, a trend climate scientists blame on global warming from burning fossil fuels in cars, factories and power plants.

The loss of ice shelves does not raise sea levels significantly because the ice is floating and already mostly submerged by the ocean. But the big worry is that their loss will allow ice sheets on land to move faster, adding extra water to the seas.

Wilkins has almost no pent-up glaciers behind it, but ice shelves further south hold back vast volumes of ice. The Arctic Council, grouping nations with territory in the Arctic, is due to meet in Tromsoe, north Norway, on Wednesday to debate the impact of melting ice in the north. — REUTERS

The FoxNewsTV (USA) asked the Iranian President Ahmedinejad,’When you look into the mirror in the morning what do you say to yourself’? He answered: I see the person in the mirror and tell him ‘Remember’ you are no more than a small servant, ahead of you today is the heavy responsibility, and that is to serve the Iranian nation’.

Ahmedinejad, the Iranian President who astonished many when he first reached to the office of the Presidency by donating all the high valued Iranian carpets to one of the mosques in Tehran by replacing them with the low cost ordinary carpets. He observed that there was a huge extravagant lounge for receiving and welcoming the VIPs and he ordered it to be closed and asked the protocol office to arrange for an ordinary room only with wooden chairs.

On many instances he joins the cleaning staff of the municipality for cleaning the streets in the area where his home and the Presidency are located.Under his authority whenever he appoints any minister to his post he gets a signed document from him with many points particularly highlighting that he shall remain poor and that his personal and his relatives accounts will be watched and the day he leaves the ministry shall be with dignity, and therefore it is not lawful for him or his relatives to take any advantage of his office.

First of all he declared himself for all the ‘Big’ wealth and the property he owned was a Peugeot 504 car, model 1977, an old small house inherited from his father 40-years ago in one of the poorest zones in Tehran . His accounts with a zero balance and the only money comes in to his a/c was from his salary from the university as a lecturer with an amount of US$ 250 only. For your info rmation the President still lives in that same house.

This is all what he owns; the president of one of the world’s important countries; strategically, economically, politically and with regard to its oil and defense. He even doesn’t take his personal salary with the argument that all the wealth belongs to the nation and he is the safeguard over it.
One of the things that impressed the staff at the presidency is the bag the President brings with him every day, which contains his breakfast; some sandwiches or bread with olive oil and cheese prepared by his wife and eats and enjoys it with all happiness. One of the other things he changed was his personal carrier ‘the President’s Aircraft’ to a cargo aircraft in order to save the spending from the public treasury and he ordered that he will be flying with the ordinary airline in the economy class.. He organizes meetings every now and then with all the ministers to know their activities and efficiency and he closed down the office of the Manager of the president and any minister can enter to his office without any permission.

He also stopped the welcome ceremonies like the red carpet, the photo session or any personal advertisement or respect of any kind while visiting any place in the country. Whenever he has to stay in any of the hotels he asks them to make sure not to give him a room with any big bed because he doesn’t like to sleep on beds but rather likes to sleep on the floor on a simple mattress with a blanket.. Refer to some of the photographs which also confirm the above.

The Iranian president is sleeping in the guest room of his house after getting away from his special guards who follow him wherever he goes and photo is taken by his small brother according to the Wifaq Newspaper which published this photo and the next day the photo was published in most of the world’s newspapers and magazines and particularly the Americans.
During the prayer you can see that he is not sitting in the first row. And the final photo is of his dining room where the president is busy eating his simple meal.

ADMIN Note:

Just compare President Dr. Ahmedinejad with the Rich & Famous Lifestyle of Umno leaders such as Khir Toyo. Just fancy imagining our PM curled up in such a humble manner minus his favorite Iced Milo. He might just do it for a cheap publicity1 Malaysiastunt unlike President Dr. Ahmedinejad who is truly a MAKKAL SAKTI kind of leader!